Dublin - BusConnects

I would suggest that the people who support the idea of these “hubs” have a read of the research of Hine + Scott which found that while people say they want quicker journey times, in reality they will take a longer journey if it avoids interchange. Interestingly, this paper is mentioned in the Busconnects literature and they immediately try to discredit it by talking about the quality of the interchange (not a factor based on the research).

To be clear I am in favour of improved public transport but there are so many flaws with Busconnects it’s becoming hard to support.

No one is denying that there are benefits to the proposals and many people (including myself) will benefit from the new network but the logic of interchanging is flawed. No one has explained why they can’t run buss direct through the hubs to the city centre, thereby increasing the frequency between for example blanch and city centre and also avoiding the need to interchange. The proposed bus routes in this specific area are over complex and could easily be rationalised to provide a better service.
Examples include a bus gate at little pace to run services from Dunboyne to blanch via little pace without the long detour.
Or the combination of the route 36 and 35.

On some of the other corridors, the NTAs own research has found that the demand numbers are greater than a CBC yet they are proposing a CBC. Lucan and UCD are prime examples where it would be far more beneficial and not that much more expensive to build light rail.

There are also areas where a lack of local knowledge is evident.
Examples include the S4 which will not be able to pass through UCD at certain times, the one way bridge at Broomsbridge, and the use of Seán Heuston bridge on the O route.

While you may say I’m being pedantic here, these are just the errors I have noticed and I’m sure there are many more.

When it first came out, I was 100% behind this project and yawned at the typical NIMBY attitude but the more I’ve looked at the details, the more I lean against it. This is not the kind of investment that Dublin needs to make in its public transport and would appear to be a refusal by the government to properly invest although ironically Busconnects will work out more expensive.

Sam Russell wrote: »

The problem is not with the journey from home (remote with infrequent bus) to An Lar, it is the return home with very frequent buses to hub, then an indeterminate (and what feals an unending) wait for the infrequent bus to home.

If a good system of integrating the outbound bus with the final run existed, then I think this might be better. For example, on the outbound bus - 'This bus connects with Route XX from hub' and the Route XX waits for that service.

Yes good timing from hubs is essential, like the Saggart-Belgard luas waiting for a Tallaght bound tram at Belgard before pulling away

CatInABox wrote: »

They did explain it though, it was the only efficient way of improving the frequency on those routes.



They plan on sending a Luas out to Lucan eventually, but BusConnects is also needed, even if the Luas was going ahead right now. A case in point of this is the Ballymun - Glasnevin route into Dublin getting both the Metrolink and also a Core Corridor.



This is literally why they released it for public consultation, and said that it's not perfect or final, and that it needs work. Look at the consultation for Metrolink as an example of what they do, they took the complaints and made a much better plan (although shearing off the southside is extremely debatable) for the second consultation, I'd expect the same for the next release of the BusConnects plan later this year.

Splitting the core corridors after would be more efficient as it removes the need to interchange.

The plan for Lucan Luas is before 2035 and metro is for 2027. Busconnects is due for construction between 2021 and 2027. In the case of Lucan and I’m talking more about the CBC infrastructure here, assuming a 4 year construction programme, the CBC would be in place for a maximum of 8 years before being dug up again. This assumes Lucan Luas is delivered in 2035 and not earlier. Plus you have the costs of the CBC first and then Luas where it would be cheaper to build a Luas now or even 5 years time.
It’s extremely questionable why they are providing a CBC running parallel to a 20,000 passenger per hour metro. This is madness from both an infrastructure and a service point of view. Remember that Busconnects routes were planned based on 2018 infrastructure only plus 10 minute DARTs.

Point taken about the public consultation but if it’s anything like the Metrolink one and the rumours going about, a phased approach will be taken to the route changes which is even crazier as Jarrett Walker has said its easier to do it in one go.

While I do understand what you’re saying and your support of the project, I’m being more convinced that we are being hoodwinked here instead of proper investment in public transport

Qrt wrote: »

Exactly, I can’t remember where I saw it, but I believe only 8% of customers or so would need to change buses to get to the City Centre. Those whose local route will be replaced by a local bus may even opt just to walk/travel to the nearest spine route. Obviously that is very circumstantial but if you’re one or two stops off a spine route, it’s fairly likely.

8% so 1 in 12 will have to change to get to the city centre. Anywhere to the city centre is the most basic type of routes so based on this, the proposed network is very inefficient.

I’m well aware that not every journey can be made without interchange but interchanging should be avoided where possible. The research backs this up, and other research goes even further to say that if a journey involves 2 or more changes, it is assumed that a passenger will take a different mode (usually the private car).

What’s even more worrying about the 8% is that the main focus of the network is on the radial routes. No investment is being made in orbital corridors when this is where Dublin really struggles. This is the reason that Go Ahead were given all the orbital routes.

Like I said, I’m supportive of public transport investment but Dublin has the potential to create one of the best transport networks in the world for a similar price to what is being spent on Busconnects.

The NTA are trying to do with buses what no other first world country in the world would even attempt. I challenge anyone to show me a city where there is continuous bus lanes along 16 corridors and only 7 rail corridors.
The reality is that bus are all well and good and often carry the most passengers in a city but they are inefficient on high capacity corridors.

Investment in Luas to UCD, Lucan and Knocklyon as a first step with future lines to Clongriffin and metro west as a Luas line extended to tie in with Luas at Sandyford would make for a very efficient core network. Then and only then could you look at filling the gaps with bus corridors.